NASCAR takeaways: Joey Logano turns second life into Championship 4 spot

LAS VEGAS — Joey Logano went from out of the playoffs to having a spot to vie for the NASCAR Cup Series title in three weeks at Phoenix Raceway.

Logano, who thought he was knocked out of the playoffs last week at Charlotte until learning a couple of hours after the race that Alex Bowman failed postrace weight requirements to put Logano into the semifinal round, vaulted himself into the championship race by using a fuel-mileage strategy to capture the victory Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Logano said he and his wife laughed about it in victory lane.

“Do you believe one week ago at this hour… I come walking out of our bedroom, and I said, ‘You’re not going to believe this s—,'” Logano said in recalling the conversation. “Here we are a week later. I told her, ‘You ain’t going to believe this, that we won this one.'”

The Team Penske driver entered the Round of 8 (NASCAR’s version of the semifinal round) with the fewest points, and while at least one driver, will be among the four finalists based on points, winning a race earns a playoff driver an automatic bid. The four drivers who make it to the championship round race (along with everyone else) in the season finale Nov. 10 at Phoenix Raceway and the top finisher among those four wins the title.

“We had maybe not the best regular season, but when the pay window opens up in the playoffs, the 22 [team] shows up,” said two-time Cup champion Logano, who was 15th in the regular-season standings while the other seven drivers in the Round of 8 were in the top seven.

Christopher Bell thought he would be that driver in victory lane as he led 155 laps and had the dominant car, but Logano ran the final 69-lap green-flag run without stopping for fuel while most of the field opted to pit. Logano was told he would be one lap short and was able to save enough and then pass Daniel Suarez with six laps remaining.

Blaney scoffed at the idea he was helping keep Bell from catching him.

“The 20 [of Bell] didn’t get to me until the last corner,” Blaney said. “I don’t know what the hell you would think I’m blocking him for.

“I’m running the top. I’m not taking anyone’s air away. He should have maybe got to the 22 quicker. He would have been able to pass me pretty easy, but he was half a lap too late.”

Larson, Hamlin pit crew woes

Both Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson were the victim of slow pit stops that cost them several positions during the race, with Larson even having to pit a second time and going a lap down in one sequence.

Hamlin finished eighth and Larson finished 11th.

“Just not a clean day,” Hamlin said. “That certainly kind of sums it up. You’ll have that. We’ll just do the best we can to get the best finish.”

Larson had a similar outlook.

“We made the most of it,” Larson said. “[It] could have been a lot worse.”

Larson at least has the consolation that he leaves the race 35 points above the cutoff while Hamlin is 27 points behind.

“We’re not running quite as strong as what we were earlier in the year,” Hamlin said. “We’re definitely not as clean execution-wise as what we were.

“We’ve just got to clean it up, go to Homestead and try to win it.”